


Pink in the Night

by stevesnosebump



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: (Briefly mentioned) - Freeform, Boys In Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gentle Kissing, Hand Feeding, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pet Names, Picnics, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-War, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29421342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stevesnosebump/pseuds/stevesnosebump
Summary: Bucky surprises Steve with an evening picnic for Valentine's Day.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30





	Pink in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> hello! haven't written on my own in what feels like ages so I'm a lil nervous but I like how this turned out n hope u like it too :)  
> yes the title of this fic is from the mitski song of the same name! she is so cool why didn't anyone tell me....
> 
> (excessive use of em dashes and italics ahead!!)

Bucky knows he wants to make sure his and Steve’s first Valentine’s Day as a couple is as special as he can possibly make it. Figuring out how to do so is a challenge, considering they’re young, broke, and  _ gay— _ the last descriptor being something that makes their relationship feel hopeless each time they overhear a slur, a threat of violence, or a gay couple getting beat half to death. But, despite all that, they still have faith that they can make their relationship work. 

And, if they can manage to do that, Bucky figures they can also manage to have a happy holiday a few times a year the way other couples get to. 

A lot of things are hard for them. Figuring out what they can do together on this romantic holiday is another challenge, but it’s one that Bucky gladly accepts. His sweetheart deserves to have a nice Valentine’s Day, and Bucky deserves an excuse to spoil his sweetheart. 

Right now, he’s just grateful that his boss approved his request for a day off (with a playful smirk and raised eyebrow as he remarked,  _ “you wanna spend the day with your girl, huh, Barnes?”) _ so he won’t have to spend the day exhausting his body and come home late at night tired and aching. 

The things couples typically do aren’t really an option for them: a romantic dinner isn’t in the budget right now, and it’s far too risky for two men to be seen holding hands over a candlelit dinner. A trip to the movies is possible—if Bucky can manage to keep his hands to himself—but not ideal since they’d have to be quiet (and where’s the fun in that on a day that should be all about romance?). Coney Island isn’t an option either, unfortunately. Not in this cold—Steve hasn’t gotten too awfully sick this winter, which feels like a miracle Bucky knows better than to question or tamper with. 

So, with all those ideas ruled out, what else can the two of them do? He doesn’t want them to spend the day cooped up inside, not on a day all about celebrating their love. 

The idea clicks into place when he’s walking home and eyes a couple walking hand-in-hand, the woman holding a picnic basket in her free hand. 

A picnic would be perfect for the two of them—Bucky figures they can walk to the nearby park in the evening, right before sunset, and sit in the corner of the park that isn't quite illuminated by the glow of the street lights, safely tucked away from the rest of the world. Steve would need to be all bundled up, which Bucky knows he’ll be grumpy as all hell about, but he knows that once they’re sitting on an old blanket in that dark corner, Steve will cheer up and forget all about his excessive layers of clothes, and the light blush on his cheeks will match the tinge of pink on his cold nose. 

A picnic. It’s sweet and simple, which is perfect for the two of them—what they do to celebrate special occasions doesn’t really matter to either one of them, they’re both content with the simplicities of life and they don’t need any extravagant displays to prove their love for one another. 

———

“Hey, sleeping beauty,” Bucky teases as he kisses Steve on the cheek, holding the bouquet of flowers he had snuck out to buy Steve while he was still asleep. It’s noon and Steve had woken while Bucky was up, and was now sitting at their dining table with a cup of coffee and a slice of toast. 

“Hey, Buck. Are those for me?” he gestures to the flowers, a shy smile and slight blush already on his face. 

“Mmhm. Happy Valentine’s Day,” Bucky confirms as he hands him the flowers. “Big plans for today.” 

Steve gets up to put the flowers—red roses, of course—in a vase. “Yeah? What plans?” 

“Well,” Bucky takes a bite of the toast on Steve’s plate, “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.” 

“It doesn’t have to be a surprise, Buck.”

“Be patient,” Bucky smirks, knowing how frustrating that phrase is for Steve to hear. With a chuckle, he kisses Steve on the forehead when he pouts. 

“Buuuuuck,” Steve whines, dragging out his name for dramatic effect. 

“Steeevieeee,” Bucky mocks. “You’ll get your surprise later,” he wraps Steve into a gentle embrace, hearing Steve release a soft sigh as he leans into the touch. 

“You sure you don’t wanna just stay in together?” Steve mumbles into Bucky’s neck. He already knows what Bucky is going to say, but he asks the question before he can even stop himself. He’s a bit nervous about celebrating in public, doesn’t know how the hell they can pull it off when the two of them know damn well what this world thinks about two men getting too comfortable with one another. 

“It’s our first Valentine’s Day together, and you wanna spend it cooped up in this tiny place? No way.” 

“No, I don’t, but—”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Bucky cuts him off, pulling back from their embrace so he can look Steve in his eyes. “I know. I wouldn’t put us in danger like that. I have a nice evening planned out for the two of us,” he ruffles Steve’s hair and smiles down at him. “Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing.”

Steve isn’t fully convinced, but he knows he can trust Bucky. Besides, the day is meant to be a good one. He doesn’t want to ruin that by worrying all day. 

The day drags on like never before—Steve is restless and can’t stop thinking about the special evening his boyfriend (his  _ boyfriend.  _ He still can’t believe that he can really call Bucky that, even after all these months) has planned out, is feeling the rush of both excitement and anxiety. 

Bucky can tell that Steve is feeling antsy, and every quiet chuckle Bucky lets out makes Steve hate how well Bucky can always read him. 

“Didn’t realize you were reading a comedy,” Steve remarks, finally looking up from the book he’s reading (if staring at one paragraph while your brain cycles from thought to thought counts as reading) to glare at Bucky, who’s curled up on the other side of the couch reading his own book (with a leg outstretched to rest against one of Steve’s own, so the two of them are still touching). 

“I’m sorry,” He’s wholeheartedly laughing now, not even trying to hold it back like he was before. “I can just tell that you’re thinking about your surprise. C’mon, Stevie,” he sets his book aside. “Cheer up.” 

“You’re  _ torturing  _ me,” Steve whines, putting his book down, too. 

“Nope,” Bucky sits up and pulls Steve into his lap before pressing a loud kiss to his cheek. “I’m surprising you. You’ll love it.”

Steve curls himself up in Bucky’s lap, placing his arms around the other man’s neck and laying his head on his chest. “I know I will,” he sighs, listening to Bucky’s steady heartbeat. He’s confident that he’ll love Bucky’s surprise, but he’s too impatient to wait until the evening to find out what it is. 

He’s also a bit nervous about the fact that Bucky has an entire romantic evening planned for the two of them while he’s empty-handed—he had wanted to buy Bucky a gift, or at least paint him something pretty, but Bucky had told him a million times that he didn’t need anything ( _ “having you by my side is already the perfect gift, Stevie. I’ve been blessed,”  _ he’d told Steve when he saw him eyeing a shop with Valentine’s Day decorations displayed in the window.). 

“Hey. A button on my old shirt popped off. You mind sewing a new one on for me? Shirt’s on the table,” Steve knows the small task is just Bucky’s attempt to get Steve’s mind off the evening ahead of them, but he’s grateful for the suggested distraction. He knows he’ll be able to force himself to focus on that more easily than he could force himself to focus on his book. 

“Sure, I can do that.” 

“Thank you, honey,” Bucky gently slaps Steve’s ass as he walks by—chuckling at his little yelp—before returning to reading his book. 

A part of Bucky is antsy about the evening ahead too. He worries that Steve might not like the idea of a picnic or that he’ll hate such a cheap celebration, but deep down he knows that won’t happen. Bucky knows Steve better than anyone else on this planet, and he knows that he’ll cherish their date tonight—they both will.

———

The day drags on like never before.

Just when Steve begins to think the universe is playing a sick joke on him by making the afternoon of February 14th drag on forever, the sun finally begins to set and Bucky asks, “All set?” and finally,  _ finally,  _ Steve gets to see his surprise.

They take a long route that people hardly use so they can hold hands as they walk to the local park where Bucky, unbeknownst to Steve, had snuck out to set up a few minutes before. 

Steve has the biggest smile on his face when he sees the setup—an old blanket for them to sit on, a small picnic basket, and their little radio. He doesn’t even question why Bucky picked a spot that was so dark and so far away from the heart of the park—he knows the reason, but right now he doesn’t care. He’s just grateful that he can call Bucky his, despite how the rest of the world feels about it.

“You set this up? For us?”

“Sure did,” Bucky replies with a smile, voice softer than usual. 

“Thank you,” Steve shyly mumbles as they sit down together. “This is nice.”

Bucky turns on the radio, allowing the crackling of a new love song to softly fill the air. “Better than staying in, huh?” 

“Mmhm,” Steve quietly admits, eyeing the picnic basket. “What’s in there?”

“Impatient,” he grabs the basket anyway and shows Steve what’s inside: two thermoses with the potato stew he’d gotten from a kind old Irish lady Steve frequently sells art to—since Bucky knows how much Steve misses his ma’s stew, and even though it isn’t his ma’s, he knows Steve will be grateful for it anyway—two spoons (for the aforementioned stew), and a chocolate orange he’d bought along with the roses he gave to Steve. 

“Oh. Buck—”

“You don’t need to thank me again, doll,” Bucky interrupts as he grabs the thermoses and spoons out of the picnic basket and hands one to Steve. “Just wanted us to have a special day together.” 

He watches as Steve eats his first spoonful of the stew—eyes fluttering closed, savoring the taste with a quiet  _ “mmm.”  _ Bucky doesn’t move, just sits and watches Steve enjoying that first spoonful. He wants to take this moment in and make sure he doesn’t take a second of it for granted. It’s almost as though he’s worried that if he looks away for even a moment, he’ll miss a lifetime. Steve is all bundled up in a thick coat and a scarf, and his cheeks and nose are painted a pale pink, a sight even prettier than Bucky had imagined. 

“Good?” he asks when Steve’s eyes open again. 

“Great,” he sheepishly smiles, having to stop himself from thanking Bucky again. It’s not his ma’s stew—nothing could ever beat that—but it’s close. He can tell that it was made by real Irish hands, and he knows that Bucky had picked it out specifically to give Steve a taste of the love and comfort from his ma that he’s been missing ever since she died. It’s a thoughtful gesture, and the thought of Bucky planning it out makes Steve feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

They eat their stew quietly, taking in the moment as the radio quietly transitions to the next love song. The quiet makes Steve appreciate the spot Bucky had picked: far away from other people and from the busy street with loud cars. It feels like their own personal plot of the earth, like they’ve sheltered themselves away from the rest of the world so all that matters is each other. 

“Look at the stars,” Bucky excitedly tells Steve as they’re closing their thermoses and placing them back in the basket. “Sky’s so pretty tonight.” 

“Yeah,” the sky really is pretty, but Steve can’t take his eyes off Bucky and the stubble covering his jawline. Plus, he loves the way Bucky is marvelling at the sky right now, like he’s never seen stars before and can’t believe they’re real. He leans into Bucky and smiles when he feels a warm arm wrap around his body. 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Bucky suddenly says, removing his arm from Steve’s body. Steve is about to complain about the loss when Bucky reaches into the picnic basket and pulls out the chocolate orange. “I know you like these.”

When Bucky unwraps the chocolate and takes a slice out—placing the rest, still in its wrapper, on his lap—Steve holds his hand out, expecting Bucky to just hand him a slice and then grab another for himself. 

“No, let me feed you,” he says, gently moving the slice to Steve’s lips and watching as he takes a small bite. 

When he finishes the last bite, Steve gently sucks the bit of chocolate on Bucky’s fingers, sheepishly hiding his face in Bucky’s neck afterwards.

“Why are you hiding your pretty little face from me, huh?” Steve slowly lifts his face from the crook of Bucky’s neck, and the second he does, he’s rewarded with a gentle kiss to the bump of his nose. 

Bucky grabs another slice of the chocolate orange, but for himself. He’s about to put it in his mouth when Steve stops him with a gentle hold on his wrist and a quiet, “Let  _ me  _ feed you now.” 

Steve’s hands slightly shake as he feeds Bucky, and the blush on his cheeks only deepens when Bucky keeps his eyes locked on Steve’s as he accepts the slice from his hands. 

“Thank you, honey,” he says, voice husky, when he finishes. 

They go back and forth like that until the chocolate is gone, only pausing to kiss (another positive of sitting in a remote part of the park: privacy to openly partake in public displays of affection without worry) and to sing along to the songs on the radio. 

“Hey,” Steve softly begins as he watches Bucky place the trash from the chocolate wrapper in the picnic basket, so he can remember to throw it out when they get home. He wants to say thank you again, but he knows Bucky won’t want to hear it, so he opts instead for a sweet and heartfelt, “I love you.”

“I love you,” Bucky smiles, giving him a gentle kiss on the lips. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” 

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Buck,” Steve beams up at his boyfriend. 

As they gather up their things and walk back home hand-in-hand, neither one of them can wipe the wide smiles off their faces. Bucky thinks he succeeded in his mission to give Steve a happy first Valentine’s Day. Steve thinks that he’s the luckiest man in the world with the best valentine of all time. The day makes every other day—the days they have to hide their relationship, and the days they start to doubt they’ll be able to make their love last in such a cruel world—totally worth it. No matter what anyone else thinks, they know they’ll love one another ‘til the end of the line. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope u liked this fic thank u so much for reading mwahmwah! leave me a hate comment if u didn't like it I need to feel something again
> 
> shoutout to steve's nose bump for always being there for me and shoutout to bucky for kissing said nose bump.


End file.
